WotL OOC Thread

[JadedDM]

Okay, just about everyone's scenes are wrapped up. Just Tulbas and Grubnick left. It shouldn't take long to resolve them, and once that happens, we'll end the chapter.

[TristenC]

http://www.youtube.com/?#/watch?v=_B_Rw5YhC00

Brian brushwood from scam school doing fire-eating...
Just thought I'd add it after Grubnick's little exhibition

[JadedDM]

For some reason, that link just brings me to youtube's main page.

[TristenC]

Hmm... it works for my mobile and browser. It shows the video and a list of similar onea for me.

Try searching:
Brian brushwood scam school fire eating.
It should come up on the first page. The vid is 4:31 mins long.

Another that may become relevant soon:
http://www.youtube.com/?#/watch?v=SifcDzDcfkc
If the link/copying it doesn't work; search 'the science of fire breathing Royal Institute'
That vid is 3:47 mins long

[JadedDM]

Looks like the problem is you are inserting "/?#" into the urls. When they are removed, the links work fine for me.

For instance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SifcDzDcfkc instead of
http://www.youtube.com/?#/watch?v=SifcDzDcfkc

Anyway, I watched both videos now. Interesting stuff. Of course, Grubnick is cheating as he's immune to natural fire, so there's no risk of him accidentally burning himself. Although his audience doesn't know that. And he could accidentally set someone or something else on fire.

[TristenC]

Yeah, the second video was more of a 'contingency plan' kind of thing, specifically regarding high-volatility alcohol... When he performs, I want him to do everything the way someone not immune to fire would; unless specifically noted otherwise. This is Partly for practice, and partly to avoid revealing his true nature...

[JadedDM]

Okay, that more or less wraps things up. Kind of a short chapter (the shortest so far), but a lot happened. Gregeddin continues to build a network, Kendra runs into someone from her past and she and Arulia join the elven rebels, and Tulbas may now need a rescue.

I'll get XP and everything up shortly, and then we'll start the new chapter.

[Haahque]

Well when you need a harrowing hero then never fear, Haahqae is here! Of course he doesn't know about Tulbas's plight, but after he's spent the night he's sure to stumble across something sometime.

[JadedDM]

Yeah, I imagine it won't take long for them to realize Tulbas is missing.

Oh, and while I'm calculating XP, I have a couple of questions regarding character motives.

What was the reason Haahqae used Change Self to look like a Baaz and calm down that drunken draconian?

What was the reason Grubnick helped the lute player?

I think everything else that happened I pretty much understand, but these two I'm not sure of entirely. (I can make a guess, but I'd rather be sure.)

[TristenC]

He wants to help bolster and protect the citizens and the city against Takhisis. He hates her domination/restriction of knowledge and freedom. He sees himself as a small ‘cleansing fire’ of Sirrion to burn away the decay she brings.

He will seek to use nearly any force to bring her control down. As a matter of fact, he plans to pit the goblins against the draconians as much as possible to weaken her grip on the populace. He has some preliminary plans for doing so already. That is particularly why he keeps trying to find out more specifics about the draconians, their differences and weaknesses.

He also seeks to help others as a way to bring up the subject of his faith. He knows people have a poor reaction to him in general, but if he is kind/compassionate/helpful they may relax their opinions of him long enough for him to test the waters and talk about his faith.

[JadedDM]

Hmm, interesting. And Sirrion is all about freedom, as opposed to the tyrannical Takhisis, so that works. But yeah, Grubnick's low charisma will make it difficult to acquire allies. It's something he'll have to work at.

Anyway, here are my notes for the chapter.

Title and Theme
This chapter's title is, of course, a reference to Monty Python, as many of you already pointed out. This was the beginning of the game's second arc, and I decided it should begin like the first one--a sort of bookends, if you will. The day starts with the party getting out of bed. Some of them woke up in very different circumstances than when the first arc began, and some were exactly in the same place and the same situation. I thought it would make for a nice contrast.

Metaplots
One of the big plot points that came up this chapter was the new tax hike. Although none of the PCs are merchants (or even really have day jobs, come to think of it), some of them have families that are affected by it. Another ongoing plot point is the upcoming war against the Qualinesti. It seems one half of the party has become involved with one, and the other half with the other.

Quests
The Belzorite quest was actually back from the first arc. It was never picked up by the party, so I rolled it over to this arc. I got the idea for it from someone at the Dragonlance forums and decided it sounded pretty cool. The elven resistance quest is a new one I came up with that I thought would be a good match for Kendra and Arulia, as both have connections to the elven people. The Trade Guild quest just sort of happened; it wasn't something I planned at all.

Factions
Three factions were introduced in this chapter. The first was the Temple of Takhisis. Whether your characters agree with their beliefs or not, they could make for a powerful ally. The second was the Elven Resistance. They have little to offer and working with them is quite dangerous, but they are currently the only ones fighting against the army. The third faction introduced was the Trade Guild. They have lots of connections throughout the city, but they've lost a lot of power and influence with the arrival of the army. More on this later.

XP and Treasure
Not a lot of either in this chapter. Kendra is still way behind everyone else, still having not hit 5k yet (which was supposed to be the minimum for the ending of arc 1). In terms of magical items, there's a huge disparity between members. Haahqae is sitting on over 6000 XP worth of items and some of the party has none at all. I'm going to try and balance things out a bit in the next chapter, if I can.

I wasn't able to give much XP to Tulbas or Grubnick. The latter was because he came in so late in the chapter and was rather limited in where he could go and what he could do. But that's okay. It was a good way to let him get acclimated into the game, get a feel for things, and plan his next moves. For Tulbas, he spent most of the chapter just silently fuming at his teammates. But having been captured, he's sure to get some big scenes for this next chapter to make up for it.

Character Development
In Arulia's dream, I had Paladine emphasize how important it was to rely on subtlety and keep to the shadows. I remembered how quickly Khush got himself killed in chapter one and how Arulia was willing to charge those goblins attacking Toom with no weapon or armor on, and wanted to make sure she didn't immediately get herself killed after becoming a true cleric.

===============

Those of you might remember I brought up the idea of faction alliances back in May. If you don't, here's the relevant passage:

There are lots of different factions in the city, and they will have a 'relationship meter' with the PCs, the same way NPCs do (Revered, Friendly, Indifferent, Cautious, Threatening, Hostile--a numerical scale from 1-20).

If you do things that benefit a faction or makes them happy, you will earn points with that faction. Likewise, if you piss them off or act against their goals, you will lose points. Most of the factions will begin indifferent toward you (10), but certain races and classes may adjust your beginning score (if you were playing a cleric of Takhisis, for instance, you would probably start with a higher score for the Church of Takhisis).

In order for an act to have an effect, however, the faction must know about it. Killing those Ergothians would have earned some big disapproval from the Holy Guard back in Arc 1...had they ever known it was the party who had done it.

Furthermore, the relationship you have with a faction is only applied to the group in general. Individuals might feel differently. For instance, while Tulbas' actions in Arc 1 might have pleased the Cultists of the Master as a whole--but Darewind himself would still be pissed at Tulbas for trying to show him up. Generally speaking, any named NPC will not necessarily be affected by the faction's relationship with the PC--it's just the nameless masses that are affected.

"Revered" means the faction views you as a hero. They adore and respect you, and you probably have immense pull with them. They will probably loan whatever resources they have to you and may even follow you over their own leader(s).

"Friendly" means the faction considers you an ally. They trust you, but probably won't risk their own necks for you without good reason.

"Indifferent" means that the faction has no strong feelings toward you, if they have even heard of you before.

"Cautious" means the faction is suspicious or distrustful of you. For whatever reason, they don't trust you at all.

"Threatening" means the faction views you as an enemy. At best, they want nothing to do with you. At worst, they may actively try and stymie you.

"Hostile" means the faction views you as a huge threat. They will devote large amounts of resources to hunting you down.

There are a lot of factions in the city and I can't really name them all (and new ones may be introduced later). But to name a few, there is the Church of Takhisis, the various brigades and companies of the Red Dragonarmy, the farmers of Haven, the merchants/craftsmen of Haven, the dockworkers of Haven, the aristocrats of Haven, the thieves guild (if/when it becomes active again), and so on. Each faction has a leader (or leaders) and a headquarters.

Sometimes factions may oppose each other in certain ways, and helping one means angering another. Not all of the factions will come into play, but as each one is introduced, I'll begin charting the PCs' relationship with them, just as I would with any new NPC introduced.

As I said above, three new factions have been introduced so far. At this point, everyone is currently viewed by all three factions as Indifferent (10). The exception is Arulia, who is viewed by the Temple of Takhisis as Cautious (12). They don't what she is yet, but they will feel innately suspicious of her. Like there was something off that they can't quite put their finger on. So she should take care to avoid them if she can. If the church finds out she is a follower of Paladine, you can get they'll drop to Hostile pretty quick.

As for everyone else, the reason the other factions are still indifferent is that while the party has agreed to help some, they haven't actually succeeded yet. So don't expect any improvements until after something concrete is accomplished. If Kendra and Arulia can aid the elves, then their relationship with the rebels will improve. Same with Gregeddin, Haahqae and Tulbas with the Trade Guild and the Temple of Takhisis.

You might also recall that back in February I brought up the concept of divine allegiance.

I've been working on a little project here, in regards to the true gods of Krynn. I knew that at some point, some of the party will want to convert over once they become public knowledge. But which ones? Some of you aren't all that knowledgeable about the setting, and so don't even know who the old gods are. And I would like, at some point, to introduce a true cleric NPC to the party, so they can have magical healing again (since some of you are still nursing wounds from the mines).

So what I've done is, I took all 21 gods and boiled them down to three aspects or traits that most appeal to them. Then I went through the first three chapters of the game, and wrote down each time a PC did something that would please a god, based on their traits. So a character who spent some time in self-reflection might get a +1 from Zivilyn, or someone who showed compassion to another might get a +1 from Mishakal, and so on. Also, more overt deeds are worth more points. Giving a homeless man a few coins might be worth +1 point from Mishakal, whereas building a soup kitchen to help feed many homeless could be worth considerably more.

Then I add up the points. So far, there is no clear pattern. Most of you have 1-2 points in multiple deities. I figure once you acquire enough points in a certain deity's favor, that deity will make some attempt to reach out to you. I was thinking maybe 5 points for a Good or Evil god, or 10 points for a Neutral one. (This is because the Neutral gods are much more passive when it comes to seeking out worshipers.)

Of course, a PC can always reject any deity that contacts them. However, if the PC continues to rack up points of favor for that deity, they might try again later.

I've decided that since Grubnick is a cleric of Sirrion, a neutral deity, he only needs to earn half as many points to become attuned (5 instead of 10).

Once you reach that first level of attuning, you'll receive a dream or vision of some kind from that particular deity. This is them trying to reach out to you. You can then accept them or reject them. If you are playing a cleric and you reach the first level of attuning with your patron deity, then basically the dream is just to 'catch up' on what's happening. If you are a cleric and you reach the first level of attuning with a deity that is not your patron...well...that's awkward, isn't it?

If you reach the second level of attuning (10 for Good/Evil, 20 for Neutral), you are sent a henchman that is a worshiper of that particular god. This henchman might be a cleric or not, it depends. Paladine might also send a knight, for instance, or maybe Habbakuk would send a ranger, etc.

Not sure about the third level and beyond. So far nobody has reached the first, so maybe I'm getting ahead of myself by even thinking about it.

Anyway, in this chapter, Haahqae got a point for Lunitari, Kendra got a point for Shinare and a point for Paladine, Gregeddin got a point for Shinare and a point for Gilean, Tulbas got a point for Sargonnas, Arulia got two points for Paladine and Grubnick got a point for Sirrion.

So what does that mean? Nothing, really. The status report I gave last time is more or less the same. Tulbas, Gregeddin and Haahqae are kind of all over the place, Kendra is leaning heavily toward Shinare, and Arulia and Grubnick are still just getting started.

I'm interested in seeing how things develop.

New chapter goes up tomorrow.

[TristenC]

Awesome. Love the info about the factions and the idea about the old-god point system (especially since I'm pretty much planning the whole 'pitting all the factions against Thaksis' thing).

Did a little reading up on the old gods from the player's guide to Dragonlance. How much about the gods in general would Grubnick have from Delarn's teaching? I felt like Gilean fit Grubnick's profile and motives almost as well as Sirrion. Sirrion was the clear choice, though. You can take the goblin out of the cave...

Instigating chaos and rebellion to destroy the rotting evil of Thaksis' domination? Returning balance to the battle between good and evil? The goblin cleric of Sirrion was made for this!

[JadedDM]

How much about the gods in general would Grubnick have from Delarn's teaching?

Good question. I suppose it depends on how much he taught Grubnick. It's possible he has at least a passing knowledge of other gods. At least their names and domains, at any rate. He probably knows a bit more about Shinare (Sirrion's mate), Reorx (informally the god of dwarves) and Gilean (leader of the pantheon of twilight). Sirrion often works with Chislev, too, since nature relies heavily on renewal and life/death cycles (forest fires, for instance, and the four seasons).

Sirrion is also on good terms with Branchala and Habbakuk and considers Sargonnas as close to an enemy as he has (Sirrion seeks the balance in fire, as both a tool for life and death, where as Sargonnas sees flame as a weapon of destruction only).

[Haahque]

I was kind of surprised how quickly this chapter ended, it was only 1 day game time and I feel like Haahqae didn't manage to accomplish much at all. Here are some responses to the points brought up in your post

Haahqae sort of has a day job, but he's horrible at showing up on time, or notifying the innkeeper that he's not going to make it, which means more often then not he doesn't work.

The Belzorite quest sounds like one that Haahqae would have jumped onboard no matter which act it was in. Meanwhile his lack of planning or restraint kind of got him into the trade guild quest, for better or for worse.

For reasons Haahqae doesn't really associate well with any faction, except maybe gnomes, however he's easy enough to trick into following most factions, at least for a time.

Haahqae earned the least XP this chapter, and gained no treasure at all, however apparently Haahqae is already ahead of the curve in terms of XP, and I was rather suprised to find out that Haahqae had the most treasure, since everything he has is either single use items or spellbooks which he can't use at all (due to his intelligence and maximum spells per level) until he's eared at least 4000 more XP.

I think Haahqae had significant character development in his backstory + previous chapters. For this one I'm just trying to stay true to his character and seeing where that ends up leading him.

Due to reasons, I find it unlikely that Haahqae will attune with any one god very strongly.

[JadedDM]

Nobody earned any treasure this chapter, actually. I forgot about the spellbook he had. I was just counting the three scrolls and the two potions. Together, they total up to 6350 XP worth of treasure. Kendra has a long sword +2 (800 XP) and Gregeddin has a broad sword +1 (400 XP) and Tulbas has a ring of wizardry (4000 XP). Grubnick and Aruila have nothing at all. So hopefully I can try and balance that out a bit. I tend to rely on random rolls for treasure, though, so most of the time I come up empty because of bad luck (I once had to roll a dragon's hoard three times, because the first two times I rolled nothing, not even a handful of coppers).

As for XP, I'm not sure how Haahqae ended up with about 1000 more (roughly) than the others, or how Kendra wound up 1000 behind (roughly). Still, I suppose a mere 1000 XP isn't that big of a gap.